Despite all of its cutting-edge bells and whistles, Ghost might never be a familiar household name like Humvee, Apache and Abrams -- even if it works as advertised -- because its creator built a warship the military is not convinced it needs.

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Ahead of its time: The newly designed warship vessel named Ghost sits in an old warehouse on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine

Labor of love: Inventor and entrepreneur Greg Sancoff put up some of his own money to build the $15million warship prototype. Now he just need to find a buyer

‘It's a revolutionary program,’ said Sancoff, founder and CEO of Juliet Marine Systems. ‘Nothing like this has ever been built by anybody, not even the Navy.’

The Ghost rides on 12-foot-tall struts connected to engine assemblies Sancoff says take advantage of ‘supercavitation,’ traveling underwater inside a bubble of gas.

It is a new application of technology that the inventor insists will make Ghost fast -- it's so far hit about 35mph but its creator believes it can approach 60mph -- while staying stable even in rough seas.

But Sancoff has taken the usual step of spending $15million on a prototype that he hopes to sell to the Navy, turning upside down a process in which normally the military identifies a need before soliciting proposals and seeking funding.

‘The Navy is pretty skeptical of what we've been working on but they're starting to take us more seriously,’ said Sancoff, whose company operates out of a leased warehouse at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Sancoff, who as a young man raced hydroplanes, came up with the design for the 60-foot-long vessel after terrorists using a small boat full of explosives nearly sank the USS Cole in 2000.

Cutting edge: The Ghost's inventor says the vessel's smooth ride makes it an ideal platform for weapon systems -- and for transporting Navy SEALs, but the Navy is skeptical

Inspired idea: Sancoff came up with the innovative design for the 60-foot-long vessel after terrorists using a small boat full of explosives nearly sank the USS Cole in 2000

He thinks the Navy needs a fast patrol boat to protect larger and more costly warships when they're most vulnerable, like when they're passing through the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.

The Ghost's smooth ride makes it an ideal platform for weapon systems -- and for transporting Navy SEALs, Sancoff said.

HOW THE GHOST WORKS:

The 38-foot long main cabin rests on top of a pair of 12-foot tall struts which, when moving at speed, prop the cabin above the water like a hydrofoil.

The struts swivel at their base, allowing them to be raised and lowered depending on the water depth.

While parked, or traveling through shallow waters, they can be extended to the side.

In deeper waters, at speeds of eight knots or higher, they can rotate downward to lift the hull into the air, eliminating the jarring impact of waves.

They're sharpened along the leading edge as well to slice through submerged debris.

At the other end of each strut, a 62-foot long tube houses a 2,000HP gas turbine engine spinning two front-mounted propellers.

These tubes also eject a pocket of air from the front to generate a supercavitation effect that reduces the ship's drag coefficient by a factor of 900.

Supercavitation has been used to produce high-speed torpedoes but Sancoff said he is adapted it for the first time to propel a surface warship. As part of his design, dual propellers were moved to the front instead of the rear and underwater ailerons control the vessel, which banks like an airplane when it's turning.

Sadly for Sancoff, the Navy currently does not have a requirement for such a patrol boat, said Chris Johnson, spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command.

But the innovative design is at least worth a look, even if it turns out to be unfit for military use, according to retired Vice Adm. Pete Daly, CEO of the US Naval Institute, an independent, nonpartisan organization in Annapolis, Maryland.

‘The high ground for the US Navy is to take this and evaluate it and learn from it,’ Daly said. ‘The propulsion system could be valuable in other applications. You've got to keep that door open to innovation,’ he said.

Sancoff insists the military has expressed at least some interest in his company, which counts retired Navy admirals and one former US senator, John Sununu of New Hampshire, as board members.

‘Any time you're building something so different, you're going to find people that just don't understand it. You've really got to spend some time understanding what's going on here,’ Sancoff said.

Even in the best of times, the Navy tends to buy larger, multi-missions ships instead of smaller niche vessels. And the Navy's current budget struggles pose perhaps the biggest obstacle.

Sancoff is also proposing marketing his vessel to other navies and wants to build a new version that'll be a bit bigger. He believes it will be flexible enough for other tasks, like anti-submarine and mine warfare operations.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, said the small company faces an uphill battle.

The Navy's speedy new littoral combat ships are designed to fulfill the Ghost's proposed mission, and Thompson is skeptical that the Navy would be willing to go out on a limb for all-new design for a ship that's too small and light to accommodate heavy armor and bigger weapon systems.

Juliet Marine needs plenty of money, and perhaps a friend or two in Congress, he said, to circumvent an acquisition process that poses obstacles for small startups like Juliet, which has 15 employees.